


Faded Legends

by Accidental_Ducky



Category: Van Helsing (2004)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accidental_Ducky/pseuds/Accidental_Ducky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lissy could feel someone watching her, the unsettling feeling never really going away even as she steps into the safety of her house. Lissy just thought that she was being silly, moving to a small town can do that to you, but when a mysterious warrior crashes through her window, bleeding and unconscious, she begins to rethink her theory</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Put Down The Cat Toy Down

[Outfits](https://www.polyvore.com/faded_legends/collection?id=4396342) [Lissy](https://img4.hotnessrater.com/381643/sierra-boggess.jpg?w=4000&h=6000) [Katie](http://zntent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/candice-accola-1.jpg)

Lissy has prayed her ass off several times to any deities listening to let her paranoia be from moving to a small town after living in the city. She’s made sure all of the windows were locked and had curtains covering them, locked the front door, and she even took to sleeping with a loaded pistol in the drawer of her bedside table, but nothing made that eerie feeling go away. It didn’t seem to matter where in the house she slept, that feeling of being watched followed at her heels—the church, the grocery store, the school she worked at—always there like an itch she couldn’t quite reach. She was honestly beginning to think she was losing her mind (what was left of it after college, anyway), and nothing was helping her to make any sense of it.

Her best friend turned next door neighbor felt at ease in Lissy’s house and even slept there while her own house was renovated for three months. Maybe it’s because there’s not as much noise like there was in Stillwater or maybe she really is as insane as her old biology teacher said she was. At this point, it was anyone’s guess. Either way, she doesn’t think endless nights spent pacing and dozing where she can are helping any. Don’t get her wrong, she loves her new house and town, but this is getting a little ridiculous in her opinion.

Even her cat, normally happy around anyone that apart from her, has begun to hiss at random bystanders that drop by occasionally. Of course, Kirk has always had a temper despite the rest of his breed being happy-go-lucky cats. Hers is possessed by Satan, she’s sure of it, but a kitty exorcist isn’t high on her list of things to find. As though reading her thoughts, the white Persian opens its blue eyes to look up at her, then it hisses and scampers off on short legs. The little asshole.

Lissy shakes her head and flops backwards onto her couch, staring up at the ceiling and trying to make out patterns in the drywall mud. She’s exhausted, but every time she manages to doze off she has a weird and terrifying nightmare. She can never fully remember it when she wakes up, a blur of colors like a movie being rewound, but the remnants left behind include a hissing voice and bright blue eyes.

With a shiver, she rolls onto her side to stare at the window across the room, the dark curtain blocking out any moonlight that tried to creep inside. It’s nearly pitch-black outside, rain falling hard and pinging off the metal roof in a soothing cacophony of noise. Hell, the sound of rainfall is enough to make someone that’s wide awake drowsy and it’s damn sure enough to make Lissy’s eyes begin to slide closed.

Slowly, everything begins to fade around her as sleep takes control, the darkness wrapping around her until it felt stifling. The voice was back, echoing through the blackness as it calls out the name her absentee mother had written neatly on her birth certificate, the one no one outside of her family should know about. Over and over again, her name was almost shouted like it was coming from far away yet growing closer as those bright eyes appeared. They were an unnatural blue color, belonging more in children’s cartoons than in a nightmare where they held only a ruthless cunning.

A loud banging sound makes Lissy jerk out of the deep slumber just as the light brown skin of the creature’s face was revealed, the dream disappearing in a puff of smoke as reality delivers her wake-up call. She opens her eyes with a groan, the maroon curtains doing nothing to keep out the bright sunshine.

“Open the door, I have to pee! Lissy!” Kirk walks into the living room, jumping in order to curl up in the armchair as Lissy rises to open the door. Her best friend was on the other side of the screen door, shifting constantly from foot to foot with her hand bunched in the material of her dress. “Move it!” She pushes past Lissy, making a beeline for the bathroom down the hall.

Katie is pretty, almost like a Disney fairy with her beautiful blonde hair, clear gray eyes, and petite build. Her lips were what Lissy loved the most, full and pink, always glistening with the clear lip gloss that Katie hoarded in her spare room. They tasted like strawberries, Lissy knew after one drunken night after finals.

Lissy knew almost everything about her best friend and she knew well enough that all the makeup in the world couldn’t hide the bruises beneath Katie’s eyes. She’s been having trouble sleeping, though she refuses to tell Lissy about any reasons that could be causing it. Despite being downright chipper, Katie Grant wasn’t the type to divulge too much private information before she was entirely sure it was a good idea.

“Good morning to you too, Katie,” Lissy calls after her with a laugh, deciding to leave the front door open since it was sunny for the first time in three days. She scoops Kirk up in her arms, the cat tired enough that he didn’t struggle to get away from her as she settles him in her lap so she could make herself comfortable in the recliner. “How’d you sleep last night, Kirk?”

The cat gives an annoyed meow, eyes half-closed as his tail twitches back and forth. Lissy nods in agreement, running her fingers through his soft fur. She loved her cat even if he was one step away from being the villain in a Pinky and the Brain episode.

“Okay,” Katie sighs, walking back into the living room and standing in front of the TV with her hands planted on her hips. Like usual, she’d dressed in light colored clothes that made her look tanner than she already was, the dress accentuating her small breasts and baring her arms. “What do we have planned for today and did you sleep on your couch last night?” The blonde seems to miss nothing, though she didn’t exactly have to be a genius since there were a pile of blankets on the floor where Lissy had kicked them off.

“I plan on watching TV until my brain melts and yes, Katie, I did sleep on my couch last night. Where’d you end up crashing last night?” A faint blush colors her cheeks and she avoids Lissy’s gaze for a moment before answering.

“I found my bathtub to be more than accommodating. Don’t you give me that look, Lissy Collier, it was dry and I stuffed a blanket in the bottom of it.” Lissy holds her hands up in a _don’t shoot_ gesture, smiling all the same. “At least my pet likes me enough to cuddle at night.”

“Yes, Loki is a sweet dog, but he doesn’t have that special something that Kirk does.”

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right. Loki isn’t a vessel for Lucifer.” Lissy sticks her tongue out at her, scratching Kirk’s head.

“Don’t listen to her, Kirk, she’s just jealous.” Tired of the affection, Kirk gives a low hiss and jumps down, trotting towards the back of the house where his food and water dishes sat. “Why did I get stuck with the evil one?”

“Cause he was fifty percent off at the pet store and bit Mrs. Johnston.”

“Such a good cat, really.” Katie shakes her head in amusement, seating herself in the armchair on Lissy’s right and turning the TV on. They’re quiet for a moment as Katie flips through the channels, focusing more on the blur of colors than each other. “I had that dream again,” Lissy finally says to break the growing silence. “I think I might go see a therapist about it.”

"Um, no, I dated a therapist and I know for a fact that they guess on what to do half the time." She flips through the channels slowly, pausing briefly on Supernatural before continuing on. "To be fair to the other therapists in the world, Larry did get his degree by accident when he was trying to order pizza."

"There is that." Lissy nods, tucking her feet underneath her as her friend decides on CMT. She didn’t mind country music all that much after growing up hearing it all the time, but she still preferred classic rock over anything.

"Why go to therapy when you can just get it all off your chest by talking to me? I mean, we've known each other since Freshman year in college and you can pay me in food."

"Yes, but the last time I vented to you, you drew what I dreamed and put it on your blog."

"That's because you used to give epic details, but now all I get is the dream stalker has blue eyes."

"Sorry for not wanting to remember something that traumatizes me nightly, dear."

"Yeah, yeah." After another moment where the only noise came from Carrie Underwood singing, Lissy can basically feel Katie’s stare drilling a hole in the side of her head. When she finally faces the blonde, reluctantly tearing her gaze away from Brad Paisley’s ass, she finds the blonde giving her an irritated glare. "Tell me you didn't sleep with your hearing aid in." On instinct, she reaches up and brushes the tips of her fingers over the cold plastic behind her ear, then quickly uses her dark hair as a curtain. “God, how is it not dead already?”

"Just lucky, I guess." Honestly, she hadn’t even thought she’d fall asleep last night and had left it in. It’s not the first time she’s done it and it wouldn’t be the last, so she didn’t see the point in worrying about it. Lissy drops her hand back to her lap, pulling at some lose strings on the shorts she wore. They were old and falling apart faster than she could fix them, but she refused to throw them out just yet. "Maybe we should go shopping tomorrow, spend the day in Stillwater." Katie hums in answer, both of their eyes glued to the TV as one music video bleeds into another, the songs all sounding the same.

Around noon, the sun disappears behind dark clouds and the rain starts up again, taking away all traces of warmth. The women stand in front of the living room windows, watching as the rain pours down in heavy sheets capable of drenching anyone to the bone. It would be freezing out there and Lissy didn’t envy anyone that had to be outside.

 "The news said it was supposed to be bad, but I thought it was gonna hit later on tonight," Katie complains, her lips forming a frown. "Loki's gonna be going crazy over there. He hates this weather."

"Why don't you take my umbrella to get to your house, pack an overnight bag, and you and Loki can spend the night here? Mike Morgan said there was a chance of tornadoes and I have a shelter in the backyard that's fully stocked thanks to my dad."

"Sounds good." She moves away from the window and to the hall closet, pulling out the bright yellow raincoat and Lissy’s umbrella before disappearing outside in the downpour. The brunette watches long enough to make sure her friend made it across their shared lawns without a problem before moving to locate the demon that is her cat, knowing he would try to kill Loki the first chance he got. They're about the same size, but Kirk is the meaner of the two and he needs to be locked in Lissy’s room for the rest of the night in order to keep the rest of her house in one piece.

Kirk lets out an indignant meow as she picks him up, kicking his legs back in forth in an effort to escape, and giving her a glare when she finally set him back down in her bedroom. "Don't give me that look, it's not my fault that Loki's nicer than you." Lissy shuts the bedroom door, hearing a faint thump as the feline slams its body against the wood and smiling when she hears its complaining before her attention is drawn to other noises, too loud for a pet to make.

She moves forward a few feet, unsure if she really want to look outside to see what was making so much noise or if she wanted to take her chances with a pissed off cat. Outside, barely heard over booming thunder and rain, are the sounds of a fight; grunts belonging to a man and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Whoever's being attacked out there, it's not Katie because that girl has more of a flee instinct than a fight one.

Steadying herself, Lissy takes a few more steps forward to just make sure it definitely isn't her friend being assaulted. She creeps over to the screen door, squinting to see past the downpour. Illuminated by the occasional lightning flash, two men are going at each other, not holding back as they come closer and closer to Lissy’s house.

She quickly shuts and locks her front door, stepping away from it as she hears the sound of somebody colliding with her low porch. _What the hell am I supposed to do?_ The cops here don't do their job and the only gun she owns is in her bedroom. _By the time I make it in there, the people could be in my fucking house!_ Her eyes dart between the front door and her bedroom, both so close together that the decision was difficult to make.

"Fuck this," she breathes, moving to run towards the other end of the house and deciding to climb through a window. She barely gets three feet when the front window of her living room is shattered by a body flying through it. The woman lets out a scream, jumping back and ending up on top of the entertainment center.

No one else comes through the window and Lissy stays in her spot for a good five minutes before she convinces herself that the mysterious guy might need some help. As she gets closer, she can see that the man has a tanned complexion and short, dark hair; a few scars decorate his face, three shallow lines of wrinkles across his forehead and near his eyes. Not bad-looking overall, but there was the fact that he had just shattered her window.

The front door swings open suddenly and Lissy scrambles backwards again, grabbing the first thing she can find to use as a weapon. She holds it up in front of her, paying more attention to the dark figure standing in her doorway. It’s not until another flash of lightening that she can make out the battered raincoat and wisps of blonde hair plastered to the intruder’s face.

" _Katie?_ " The blonde walks further into the house, kneeling down next to the unconscious man and gently turning his head so that she can see him better. She's utterly calm as she examines him, as though she's done this hundreds of times before. He has a few cuts scattered here and there from the glass of the window and his left eyes is beginning to swell shut while one side of his jaw turns a shade of dark purple. Overall, he looked even worse than the sleep-deprived women surrounding him.

"Lissy," Katie says after a moment," we need to get him to the guest room and then we gotta get this window covered in case that whack job decides to make a reappearance." It's then Lissy notices that her friend looks beat up as well, Katie’s face holding a few scrapes and her knuckles bloody. "Seriously, hon, put the cat toy down and help me out with my cousin."

_What the hell is going on here?_


	2. Things Out There

[Elijah](https://obsessedentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/colin-o-donoghue-at-comic-con-2013-colin-odonoghue-35216383-1000-1420.jpg)

It was the next morning when Katie’s cousin woke up, stirring with a soft moan and barely raising his head to look around the guest room. Lissy didn’t notice for a moment, her brain functioning too slowly at first to register the guy she’s been watching over has just opened his extraordinary blue eyes.

“Where am I,” he asks, voice rough from sleep. “Who are you?” The man’s head drops back to the pillow, turned to the right so he could see the only other person in the room. It wasn’t particularly large, mainly used for storage and Kirk’s dishes.

“Oh,” Lissy says, blinking slowly as she returns to the realm of reality. _My daydreams of Kiera Knightly are much more entertaining, but Katie would murder me if I let her cousin die while she’s out getting coffee_. “Right, sorry.” She clears her throat, rising from the hard kitchen chair and beginning to pace as she waits for Katie to return. “You’re in Davenport and I’m Lissy Collier.” He nods a little, bringing up one hand to rub the bandaged side of his head. “You were hurt pretty badly from that fight last night. I hope the other guy looks worse than you do.” He tenses, his expression going blank for a split second before a scowl twists his full lips downwards and her sits up on his elbows.

“I’ve had worse. Where’s my cousin?”

“She should be back any second. You know, you should really stay in bed.” The man ignores her and gets to his feet, but he doesn’t stay on them long as his legs give out and he tumbles roughly back to the bed. “And this is why women live longer,” she mumbles under her breath. She shakes her head, forcing him to lie back before she covers him with the polka-dotted comforter again. “Now you sit there and be happy I didn’t make you stay where I found your ass.” His scowl deepens and he glares up at Lissy, sitting with his bare back against the headboard in a show of defiance.

“Don’t you have a sandwich to go make?” Anger sparks deep inside of her at the remark, making her disregard his injuries as she grabs the book she’d been reading and slamming it hard against his midsection as hard as she could. The hardback book makes a satisfying slapping sound as it connects with flesh and the low moan of pain that escapes him as he doubles over in pain was even more so.

“Say something like that again and I’m throwing you out on your head, injuries be damned.”

“You’d do good to listen to her, Elijah,” Katie says, voice coming from the doorway behind Lissy. The brunette turns slightly to look at her over her shoulder, takin gin the amused smirk and the cups of coffee in her hands as she leans against the doorway. She looks completely at ease despite the fact that her cousin had literally been thrown through a window last night, hair perfectly done in a low bun and no wrinkles present in her outfit. It wasn’t fair, really. “She’s guaranteed to give you a good ol’ fashioned ass whooping.”

“Damn right I am.” Katie pushes away from the doorjamb and hands Lissy one of the cups, the warmth spreading through her body after a drink, though it was partially from the slight grazing of Katie’s fingers against her own. It was a faint, teasing touch and Lissy was quickly becoming an addict. Completely unaware of the thoughts going through Lissy’s head, Katie sits on the edge of the bed and delivers a playful poke to her cousin’s forehead.

“How’re you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Elijah says, pushing her hand away. Having them this close, Lissy attempted to find any similarities beyond the bizarre calm they were both exuding. They had a similar mouth shape and eyebrows that could put a model’s to shame, but nothing beyond that. Where Katie was all bright colors, Elijah was dark and brooding. He practically screamed _I belong in a young adult novel_ while Katie was more fit for high fantasy. “Have you called…” He pauses, looking over at Lissy for a second before dropping his voice and whispering something that only Katie could make out.

“Haven’t been able to in this storm.” Thunder booms loudly, reinforcing Katie’s words. “I’ll try if it ever clears up again.”

“We may not have time. He’s getting stronger and he’s going to come after you again!” The sudden raising of his voice had Lissy flinched back from where she’d leaned forward in an attempt to hear their conversation.

“He wasn’t after me this time!” Katie’s voice has risen as well, a stern tone that Lissy’s never heard from her before. It was like she was a completely different person around her cousin or something. “At least, he didn’t think he was.”

“That’s just the thing, Katie, he didn’t think he was _at the time_. He fell for our plan and went after the decoy, but he’s smart and he’ll realize who he need soon enough to bring you-know-who back!”

“I’m sorry,” Lissy interrupts, completely lost now,” was that guy from last night trying to bring back Voldemort or do we have a new Dark Lord that nobody bothered to tell me about?” Elijah rolls his eyes at the question, but Lissy can see the corners of Katie’s mouth twitching as she fights back a smile. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Katie promises, holding up a placating hand.

“You’ll tell her nothing, Katelyn,” Elijah yells. “We don’t need her freaking out because she doesn’t understand.” The look Elijah sends Lissy’s way could have made Satan run for the hills, but she’s received worse looks from her damn cat. Lissy wonders how they’d react if they knew she wasn’t fully human and came from a family of Hunters, but she doesn’t say anything out loud. She was never properly trained and had spent her life living below all kinds of supernatural radars.

“She has a right—”

“The answer is no.” Katie lowers her head a little, her hand clenching the comforter tightly as though she was fighting the urge to punch her cousin. “If she knows, then our plan will fail for sure.”

“ _Your_ plan, not mine. I was never given the choice to agree and I’ll do whatever I can to keep my best friend safe!” Lissy’s never seen Katie so angry before, so absolutely full of rage that even Elijah backed down for a second. “You might be older than me, but that doesn’t make you my dad.” Elijah looks down at his hands sadly, flexing them under the bandaged Katie had wrapped around them last night. Lissy knew there were stitches beneath the pristine white of the gauze, perfectly done with hands that didn’t shake or hesitate.

“I’m sorry, Katie.”

“Just get some rest, alright? You’re going to need it with you-know-who in town.” Elijah remains silent, watching as Katie stands and loops her arm through Lissy’s and leads the brunette to the living room down the hall. All the glass had been carefully picked up and dumped into the trashcan, the front window boarded up to keep the rain from ruining the carpet. “I’ve got a lot to explain, Lissy, so you might want to have a seat.” She does just that, dropping down on the couch as Katie begins to pace in front of her.

“Katie, seriously, what the hell is going on?” Katie gently pulls a lock of hair loose from her bun and begins to tug on it, something she always does when she’s thinking hard. Lissy saw it all the time when they were in college, usually appearing during their history class or whenever an important essay was due.

“It’s just—” But Lissy didn’t get to figure out what it was because the alarm on her phone went off, the Munsters theme interrupting Katie. She gives a little sigh of relief, grabbing Lissy coat off an armchair and tossing it to her. “I’ll explain when you get home in a few hours.” Lissy shrugs the coat on and then wraps the pale blue scarf around her neck, using part of it to cover her dark hair. “Be careful, Lissy. There are…. Things out there.”

“Will it reach up and pull me to my knees?” She couldn’t help it, it just slipped out, but she can tell it also made Katie look more frantic than she had earlier. It was Lissy’s own nervous habit, to quote or reference the three little chipmunks as something playful to fall back on when she didn’t know what else to do in the situation.

“Make another Alvin and the Chipmunks reference when I’m trying to be serious and I’ll burn every one of their movies you own.” Lissy’s shaking at this point, though that might be because she never ate supper last night and doesn’t have time for breakfast if she’s going to make it to the school on time.

“We’re having a long talk when I get home.” She points warningly at Katie, opening the front door without tearing her gaze off her friend. "And if you burn those movies, you'll wake up bald tomorrow." Katie’s hands fly up to cover her hair and Lissy gives her a wink before walking out in the storm.

Lissy practically throws herself into her car, pulling the visor down in order to check her makeup. She just didn’t want to walk in looking like she’d stood guard all night because Mrs. Johnston would pounce on any sign of weakness like a lion on a gazelle. Satisfied, she flips the visor back up and starts the car, backing out onto the street.

“ _There's things out there,” she sings under her breath as she drives,” sneaking up behind you. Things out there that'll chill you to the bone. Those things out there, you know they're gonna find you. No matter where you go, you know there's things out there_." She pauses as she comes to a stop sign, watching a couple of students run across the street before continuing on. " _Running through the graveyard, bumping into trees. Something reaches out and pulls you to your knees_..."

The elementary building was only five minutes from her house, made up of dark red bricks that had probably been old when the building was first made back in the fifties. Kids and parents were hurrying back and forth when Lissy parked in her designated spot, not helping her pinpoint why she felt like she was being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, but she could see if it was just the paranoia flaring up again. _Get a grip, Collier_.

With a steadying breath, she makes sure her coat is zipped all the way out before getting out, locking the car behind her as she sprinted across the street to the school.

“Nice timing,” the principal says when Lissy walks in right as the warning bell rings. "The kids should be coming back from breakfast as we speak. Timothy Graham is someone Lissy’s known all her life, only six years older than her and the one her mom used to call for babysitting duties. Because of that, she and Timmy got along nicely and often teased each other.

“Awesome.”

“You okay? You look a little sick.” She shakes her head, taking the jacket off to reveal the white top and jeans. It was an outfit that Katie had let her borrow, the top decorated with pale flowers that had been printed on it in places.

“It’s just the rain has me tired, is all.” He nods, still looking concerned but not commenting. "I know I'm not dressed the way the school likes, but it was a crazy morning.”

"Don't worry about, kiddo, we all have those days." She grins as he gestures towards the small white stain near his shoulder. “My son decided to spit up on me right before I had to walk out the door to do my bus route."

“How’s Dalton doing? Natasha told me he was a little sick last time she saw y’all.” Timmy shrugs, running a hand through his carefully styled hair, the brown strands sticking up wildly. At thirty, he’s only six years older than Lissy and still fussed over his appearance even if he was the type to walking around with a diaper bag now.

"He's doing fine, but Cassidy and I are exhausted." And just like that, a simple conversation with Timmy has Lissy slipping into teacher-mode and the feeling of being watched fading to the back of her mind. The kids begin to file into the building soon afterwards, chattering loudly and excitedly as they make their way into their classrooms. "You'd better go on to your class and get them situated. I'll talk to you later." He presses a chaste kiss to the crown of Lissy’s head, still seeing her as the kid he watched Scooby-Doo with instead of his colleague most of the time.

“Tell Cass I’ll swing by next Friday so you two can have a date night.” Timothy nods, heading back into his office and not realizing he had a small pack of baby wipes in his back pocket. Smiling, Lissy makes her way to the last classroom at the end of the long hallway, finding Mrs. Johnston already getting the preschoolers in their assigned places at their tables. As a teacher's aide, Lissy mainly ran errands or filled in when the teacher was sick. It was an easy job and it paid just enough to pay the bills.

"Hey,” Lissy greets. “What’s on the schedule for today?” Johnston sends Lissy the same stern glance she gives the kids, hands moving to her hips as she looks Lissy over. "I already talked with Timmy about my outfit." She makes a little noise of disapproval before handing Lissy a stack of papers.

"I want seventeen copies of each of the earmarked pages and four of the rest for the students who were absent last Friday," she explains tersely. "Do you think you can manage that, Miss Collier?"

"Yes, ma'am." So it’s going to be one of _those_ days, the ones where Lissy was completely drained by the time she got home. She’d be lucky if she was able to stay awake long enough to have that long talk with Katie. Maybe I'll turn my hearing aid off when she goes to give me the end of class why-you're-a-disappointment-to-society lecture in front of the kids.

With the papers in hand, Lissy starts back down the hall to the teacher’s lounge. It was weird walking through the halls when everyone else was in their classrooms, the heels of her boots clicking loudly against slick floors. She eyes the pop machine with a deep longing for more caffeine since she’d forgotten her coffee at home, but she keeps on track to the copier.

She lays the papers down and starts the process of copying them, leaning her hip against the machine and looking around. The prickling feeling of being watched is back and she can almost hear that dream voice calling out her name again, echoing through the darkness. It was silly, she knew that, but the voice almost sounded familiar as it shouted _Elisabetta_ at her again and again. With a shiver, she looks outside again, unable to make out much of anything because of the heavy rainfall.

This is going to be a long damn day.


	3. Alvin And The Chipmunks Never Prepared Me For This

[Adam](http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luke_pasqualino.png)

Adam stands out on his porch late that afternoon, watching as the rain continued to fall as it had for nearly a week now. He loved the cloudy weather, the feel of cold rain misting against his face as he watched the people passing in front of his house. Smoke drifts from the lit end of his cigarette, a bluish-gray color as it rises and blends with the clouds overhead.

“A few more days,” he mutters to no one in particular, thoughts circling through his mind. He’d had these plans in mind for nearly thirty years now, ever since he’d learned for sure who his father was. It had been surprising considering how little Adam looked like the vampire, his skin a light brown and his nose broad while his father seemed to be the complete opposite.

Adam’s mother had been a vampire as well, fleeing from Sicily to Transylvania in the hopes that her creator would be able to shelter her. Clarina Romano had found the count just weeks before his final battle with Gabriel Van Helsing, fleeing before the attack on Castle Dracula with a couple of wounds from the friar and Adam in her belly.

Now here he was, in the middle of bumfuck Oklahoma with nothing to keep him entertained apart from figuring out which woman was his target. He needed someone with Dracula’s blood that was more potent than his own, but it was difficult to figure out who it was. One of the two women he’d been watching was a witch, he knew that much, but was it the blonde of the brunette?

He shakes his head, taking a long drag off his cigarette as he stood up slightly straighter. It would happen at any moment now, the beaten-up Chevy would stop at the stop sign and he’d have a clear view of one of his targets. It was like this Monday through Friday, no deviation to the routine that had the brunette one getting home at exactly three-twenty with the blonde one waiting for her.

Adam wasn’t sure if they were actually lovers, but you’d have to be blind not to see the teasing smiles or lingering touches the pair shared. It could come in useful later on, use one to get the other and then be done with both of them. _Two birds with one stone, the world mine to control for centuries to come._

Right on time, the car came to a stop several feet away at the corner of the block, the driver clearly visible to him as his eyes flashed a vibrant blue before settling back to brown. He could see her clearly, hair hanging half out of the ponytail holder from little hands tugging on it whenever she bent over, the shape of her pale green eyes hinting at Asian heritage somewhere along the line, and her lips nice enough to draw the eye. Not bad looking altogether, but overshadowed by the blonde one with the grace of a ballerina that the brunette was missing.

Plans were set in place and he’d find out soon enough which woman he needed to go after. The nightmares served as a smokescreen to delve into their minds, though it was proving difficult to access the more interesting aspects. He needed childhood trauma, but he was mainly getting Alvin and the Chipmunk references and contouring tips. His lips turn up in a smile as he pushes off the wall, tossing his cigarette out into the damp grass before walking back into the temporary house. 

No matter, Elisabetta and Katelyn were bound to put their guards down soon and he’d pounce the second it happened.

**LISSY**

When Lissy walked back into her house, exhausted and covered in marker, she’s pleased to smell supper cooking and no sound of children running wild. “Hey, I—” Katie stops talking when her gaze lands on Lissy, her gray eyes widening slightly as she takes everything in. “Whoa. One of those days, huh?” Lissy gives a feeble moan and does a face-plant on the couch, letting out a louder moan when she feels Kirk’s sharp claws digging into her back as the cat settles itself on top of her. "I, uh, I've got chili cooking on the stove and I used your daddy's recipe, lots of cayenne pepper. How 'bout I go and get you that thing of baby wipes and you can wipe the Picasso off your arms?"

"Tyler did it when I was helping another kid," she mumbles, rising up onto her elbows in order to look at the bright blue and orange scribbles decorating her arms. Kirk, annoyed at all the moving, jumps down and runs to the back of the house. "Mrs. Johnston didn't do anything to stop him and I didn't notice until it was time to get them ready to leave." Katie comes back into the room a minute later, handing Lissy a couple of baby wipes and seating herself on the low coffee table in front of the couch. "How's Elijah?" Katie frowns at the mention of her cousin, looking the way Kirk had just disappeared.

"Your demon likes him, he even purred when Elijah picked him up." Lissy frowns too, working on wiping the marker off.

"That's a sure sign that your cousin is possessed himself." The remark doesn’t get the laugh Lissy was going for and when she doesn’t hear anything, she looks away from her arm and to her friend, sitting up fully. Katie’s frown has become more pronounced and less playful, a small crease forming between her brows as she stares down at her hands. “Oh God, the moment you don’t laugh about my cat liking other evil people is the moment I know something’s not right. What’s happening that your cousin doesn’t want me to know about?”

“You really should stay as far removed as you can from this. Elijah was right this morning about you not needing to know.” Lissy scoffs at that, throwing an unused baby wipe at her friend and nailing her in the face with it. “I’m serious, Lissy. Maybe you should take a couple days off work and go see your nephew.”

“Woman your cousin dived through my window last night and I watched over him while you took a nap in my bathtub, and you’re telling me to take off for a few days because it’s none of my business?” Katie stares at her with her mouth opening and closing, but no words come out and she gives a slight shrug of his shoulders. “Ain’t gonna happen, now explain.” Katie drops her head in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees as she looks at Lissy through her fingers.

“Give me your phone.”

“What, why?”

“Because I don’t feel like being carted off to the Funny Farm after I’ve explained everything.” She holds out one of her hands, fingers wiggling impatiently. “Gimme it.” With some difficulty, Lissy pulls her cell out of her pants pocket and sets it in Katie’s hand, watching as she tosses it over onto the armchair. “Alright, it all started a really long time ago in Transylvania with Elijah’s great-grandfather. Gabriel worked for the Vatican and solved little problems that cropped up from time to time, problems that most humans no little about and go hand-in-hand with monsters.” She pauses for a minute to make sure Lissy was still with her. “Well, he and a friar were sent to Vaseria to deal with a problem involving vampires, one of the very first. Only, things didn’t go as planned and he ended up falling in love with the princess he was meant to protect. Her older brother was turned into a werewolf at some point and turned Gabriel before being killed.”

“Werewolves,” Lissy whispers in slight shock during another of the short pauses.

"They knew the vampire had a cure in case the werewolf got out of control, so they went to the vampire's castle to find it and put the vampire down for good. Gabriel went after the vampire while the princess and the friar went for the cure. There was a lot of action in between then and the time Elijah's great-grandfather killed the vampire... And in that time, before the friar managed to give him the cure, he accidentally killed the princess while in the form of the werewolf. He stopped the brides' children from growing to their full age and set the monster the vampire was keeping locked up free, and he didn't love anyone else for a very long time. The thing he didn't know was that one of the vampire's lovers managed to survive, pregnant with Dracula’s son and nurturing a hate in the kid as they fed off the blood of animals and the kid slowly grew stronger.”

"Vampires..."

"The guy's discovered what he needs to bring Dracula back to life, he needs someone with the vampire's blood in their veins, even if that connection is distant and watered down. Now, he can't use Elijah since there's not an ounce of vampiric blood in his body. Hell, he's got a bit of werewolf blood in him. The vampire that Elijah's great-grandfather killed had slept with a human before that, she was different, had the right bloodlines or did some kind of spell, I don't know. The point is, she got pregnant and she had my great-grandmother. Gabriel had to hunt her and her baby down a few months later when the Vatican found out about the child and Elijah's great-grandfather would have happily killed any child that the vampire had produced, except..." Katie trails off for a moment to take a breath. "The baby looked nothing like the vampire's other offspring, it was mostly human and wouldn't even need blood to survive. Gabriel took the mother and child back to Rome and he helped to raise it even after he found a wife and had his own child."

"...Monsters..."

"Yes, sweetie, try and keep up." Lissy stares up at her best friend, unsure what to do with the information dump just yet. "What I'm trying to say is that the vampire that's alive right now is trying to find me in order to sacrifice me and bring his dad back from hell. He can’t use his own blood to do it because it’s not pure enough like mine would be considering I have no other vampire blood in me like he does. So the Vatican moved me to Oklahoma and arranged for my roommate to be the great-granddaughter of a powerful witch, that's you by the way. They had hoped that your magic would help to hide me from the vampire, but he's stronger than they thought and managed to track me here. The problem for him is that he's not sure which of us is which. I mean, I've spent so much time around you that your magic practically clings to me and confuses all his senses. So he went with the practical method since the Vatican made it impossible for him to do any research on us, he began to watch us, hoping that one of us would slip up. The Vatican found out and sent Elijah to protect us, but he arrived just as I was coming back out of my house with Loki and he spotted the vampire standing in our shared yard."

"Oh my..."

"They started fighting and I joined in, but the vampire managed to get away before we could stake it through the heart. Now we're both in danger because he's got it in his head to take us both if he can't figure out which one of us is the witch." She finally stops, giving Lissy a concerned look when she doesn’t say anything. "Honey, you okay?"

"Alvin and the Chipmunks never prepared me for this."

* * *

Lissy sets the bowl of chili on the bedside table before helping Elijah to sit up against the headboard. Kirk is curled up at the end of the bed, purring contentedly since Lissy’s leaving her alone. “Here,” she says softly, still trying to work her way through everything as she hands him his dinner. She’s known a bit about the supernatural all her life, but nothing so intricate as what Katie has just explained. “You want some Kibbles and Bits to go along with it or are you good?” He scowls up at her, showing her a finger that shouldn’t be raised when in polite company

“She told you, huh?”

“Yes she did, Fido.” She grins at his snort, pausing in the doorway to look at the disgruntled man over her shoulder, watching him shovel a spoonful of the chili into his mouth. “By the way, should I pick up a flea collar the next time I run to Walmart? I wouldn’t want your scratching to annoy my cat.” He chokes on his food as she walks out, the smile on her face self-satisfied. Yeah, she had the tiniest bit of werewolf blood from her father’s side, but it was still nice to pick fun at the guy that broke her favorite window. “Remember, Elijah, pee on my carpet and I’ll rub your nose in it!”

Lissy can hear Katie laughing in the living room, obviously finding the jibes funny even if her cousin doesn’t. Lissy pauses in the kitchen long enough to ladle some chili into her own bowl, crumbling up a few crackers in it to take away some of its bite before joining Katie in the other room. Batman Versus Dracula is playing on the TV and Lissy can’t help the noise of uncertain disbelief that escapes.

“That is too weird for words,” she says, arching up a brow.

“Indeed,” Katie agrees, stuffing a spoonful of chili in her mouth. “And they got him all wrong. I’ve seen paintings of ol’ Vladdy and he was sexier than this. ‘Course, he wasn’t nearly as sexy as the princess.” That’s one thing Lissy loved about Katie, she thought everyone, no matter their gender, was sexy. She’s like a real-life Jack Harkness without the dirty jokes.

“You know what we should watch later?” She doesn’t look away from the TV, but Lissy can see her tilt her head in her direction. “That movie where Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen duke it out, but are interrupted by Davy Jones.”

“Underworld?”

“That’s the one.” Katie nods with a smile, taking another bite and swallowing it down with a sip of Coke. Lissy takes a bite as well, closing her eyes as the feeling of home settles over her like it did every time she tastes her dad’s chili. It warms her more than coffee ever could and reminds her of winter nights spent in comfortable silence while she, her father, and her sister read as they ate. She gives a small laugh as Penguin wakes up from the trance Dracula had put him in. “What are we going to do, Katie?”

“Did your family teach you anything about witchcraft?”

“My father was strictly against training because he thought it would draw in other supernatural beings. Still, I know how to start fires and I can put them out occasionally.”

“That’s not gonna be any help except to keep up the façade of me being magical.” Lissy shrugs, scraping her spoon around in the empty bowl as she continues to stand near Katie’s chair. “He took my dog.” Lissy looks away from the TV, eyes landing on her friend as the gray eyes begin to shine with tears. “The stupid vampire stole Loki while I was running to my cousin.” Without hesitating, Lissy sets her bowl aside and squeezes into the chair beside Katie, pulling the blonde onto her lap and hugging her tightly.

“We’ll get him back, Katie, and we’ll kill the son of Dracula while we’re at it.” Lissy pauses for a second, her and Katie sharing a look before bursting out into a fit of laughter. “I never thought I’d be talking about the best-known vampire in history so casually. Could this day get any weirder than it is right now?”

“Oh, most definitely.”


	4. All That Jazz

The storms carried on through the next few days, rarely giving anyone a break or letting the much-needed sunshine break through the lead-colored clouds above. Elijah could get out of bed and move around the house now, only wincing when he had to bend over to reach something and the stitches in his side were tugged tight against his flesh. As the bruises and minor cuts disappeared, Lissy realized just how gorgeous he really is, his complexion a soft gold and dusted with freckles, his eyes a bright blue, and his lips usually pursed in annoyance. He was built like a warrior, his muscles well defined and flexing whenever he moved, all fluid grace like Katie.

Lissy finds him looking out the windows more often than not, his thick brows furrowing as he looks around the house and only relaxing fully when he has Kirk in his lap. The cat seems to like him better than anyone else, allowing only Elijah to pamper it. Not that Lissy was complaining, the fewer attacks from the little hell beast the better.

Friday morning is a rare one, sunlight waking Lissy up slowly as it streamed in through the gauzy red curtains covering her bedroom window. The curtain turned the light crimson, the clouds passing overhead making the light flicker over the walls like flames. It was still low, not quite seven as her eyes flicker open. She lets out a quiet groan, sitting up and scratching her ankle as she looks around.

Katie was no longer lying beside her, the left side of the bed cold under Lissy’s hand. It wasn’t unusual, Katie was an early-riser and had a habit of cleaning whenever she couldn’t sleep. The latter explained why Lissy’s room, normally the messiest room in the house, was almost spotless. The clothes that had been flung every which way were neatly hanging in the closet or occupying the drawers in my dresser, the books scattered over every smooth surface were lining the bookshelf against the left wall, but the desk across the room was still covered in papers and sticky notes.

Lissy stretches her arms over her head and arches her back, enjoying the pleasant feeling of her muscles stretching before she gets to her feet. She walks over to the closet, picking out a nice skirt that would stop around her knees and a short-sleeved red top that wasn’t too snug. She pulls clean underwear out of a dresser drawer and heads out of her bedroom to the bathroom at the other end of the trailer. She was still half-asleep and missing her heading aid, so she didn’t hear the sounds of a shower turning off until she was already in the room and staring at a stark-naked Elijah Van Helsing.

“My eyes,” she shouts, dropping her clothes and high-tailing it back to the living room where Katie was flinging herself out of a chair.

“Did you walk in on Eli,” she asks groggily, beginning to fold the blanket that had fallen to the floor when she woke up. It was hard to hear Katie without the hearing aid, but Lissy managed to read her lips and figure it out that way. Lissy gestures at her right ear to let Katie know that she was mostly deaf right now, Katie giving a nod and switching over to beginner’s sign language. “ **Want me to start breakfast?** ”

“No thanks, I lost my appetite when I saw your cousin’s ass.” The words probably came out a little garbled, but Katie’s never made fun of the less than perfect pronunciation before. Elijah enters the living room a few minutes later, blushing hard and dressed in a simple pair of worn jeans and a dark red and gray tee. His hair is disheveled from being dried, the ends sticking out everywhere like an angry Porcupine. Elijah says something, but his lips moved too fast for Lissy and she turns to Katie for a translation.

“ **He said the shower’s free**.” Lissy gives her a nod and a grateful smile before moving back down the hall to the bathroom, noticing that Elijah had picked her clothes up and laid them out on the washing machine before he left. Her smiled dims a little as she looks at the neatly folded clothes, wondering why he did something nice when she’d half-expected him to walk over them with his big feet.

Shrugging, she pulls off her tank top and panties, throwing them in the laundry basket, and getting in the bath-shower combination. The hot water felt amazing after walking barefoot through the cold house, her toes no longer freezing as the water from the shower runs down on them while she hunts around through the mixture of bottles to find her own things. A couple of days ago, when it became obvious that Katie and Elijah felt safer in her house, Katie had brought her things over and bought some stuff for Elijah’s use so he didn’t have to smell like cherries or Warm Vanilla Sugar. He demanded the 'manly' smells like Axe, though Lissy thinks it was all a little too macho.

Lissy washes quickly and rinses the soap out of her agonizingly thick hair, but she leaves in the conditioner long enough to shave her legs, giving it a chance to help with the tangles.

All too soon for her liking, she was getting out and dressing in an outfit deemed acceptable to teach in. Once the clothes and flesh-toned pantyhose were on, she moves on to brush her teeth and hair, then pulls her hair back into a nice chignon before walking into the kitchen. Katie and Elijah were working together to cook breakfast, Katie working on flipping pancakes while Elijah mixed up some more batter.

Lissy’s purple hearing aid is set out on the cabinet next to a small thermos of coffee and a pair of black heels were set on the floor in front of the cabinet. Lissy recognized them as the ones she kept in the back of her closet, but Katie had dragged the damn things out because of her obsession with trends. While Katie was distracted by setting chocolate chips in a pancake, Elijah mouths to Lissy that Katie had put a fresh battery in the hearing aid.

“Thanks,” she tells Katie once she has the hearing aid in place and turned up to the right volume, giving her a peck on the cheek. “You’re the best.”

“What about me,” Elijah asks, gaining a look of mock offense. Lissy gives his shoulder a sympathetic pat as she grabs the thermos and slips her feet into the low heels, starting for the door.

“You’re a good doggie.” The offense is real this time around and she gives him a mischievous wink. Katie chases her out the door and to her car with Elijah following after her at a slower pace, his hand covering his left side where the stitches are. “What is it?” Katie has worry showing clearly in her eyes when she reaches Lissy, looking anxiously around the empty yard.

"Why don't you call in sick until we figure this out,” Katie asks. “Timothy would understand and make an exception for you since you're his third favorite person in the world." She grasps Lissy’s shoulders gently as she speaks, Lissy able to feel her shivering. “I mean, you’re going to school with absolutely no protection and this vampire could strike at any time. What do you think he'd do to you when he figures out that you don't have the blood of Dracula in your veins?"

"Roast me over an open fire like the chicken that I am," she suggests dryly. Elijah scowls and delivers a sharp slap to the back of Lissy’s head. "Guys, they're out of subs and I have to go attend a parent-teacher conference since Johnston's out sick. If this isn't sorted out by Sunday, then I'll give Timmy a call and tell him that I've got a cold." Still seeing the worry on her face, Lissy gives her friend a tight hug. "I've got my pistol in the glove compartment. It might not kill him, but a bullet to the face should slow down any undead piece of trash." She gives a soft laugh, pulling back and moving to her cousin's side.

"If you get yourself killed and it upsets Katie, I'll bring you back and kill you again," Elijah warns.

"Ah, just admit it, Fido, I'm growing on you." She gives the pair a cheeky grin before climbing into the old Chevy and waving at them. She starts the car and turns the radio up as she backs out, beginning to hum along to the song playing as she drives through the familiar streets.

“ _And all that jazz_ ,” Catherine Zeta-Jones was singing,” _find a flask, we’re playing fast and loose and all that jazz._ ” Lissy nods along with the beat of the song, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. _“Right up here is where I store the juice and all that jazz! Come on, babe, we’re gonna brush the sky. I betcha Lucky Lindy never flew so high!_ ” She cuts the ignition after parking, leaning over the center console to make sure the glove compartment is locked.

"Let's get this day over with and then get drunk." It's the best pep talk she can manage, knowing she'll have to deal with several asshole parents for the next six hours.

**ADAM**

Adam watches the brunette run across the street, the heels of her shoes only hindering her a little bit once she reached the gravel walkway. She was pretty in a strange way, a way that made you want to keep her safe, though he supposed that could be the magic that came off her in waves. It would fog the brains of most humans, but it was easily ignored by the vampire.

No one noticed as he stood across the street from the elementary school, watching the parents and children move in and out of the school for their meetings with the teachers. He'd known that Elisabetta wouldn't have shown up today if Johnston hadn't called in, so he'd used his abilities to put the rotund woman into a trance and then killed her once the call was made. Her blood tasted sour, mirroring her bitter personality, and he'd had to lie down the rest of the night to recuperate.

The sunlight was harsh, even with sunglasses and a coat, but he endured it for a few minutes longer before ducking into the shadows. She'd be here most of the day and he could come back when she was ready to leave. It shouldn't be too hard to 'convince' her to come with him back to his rental home here in Davenport. Then again, if this one really is the witch, then his ability to put people into a trace state might not work on her.

Adam stuffs his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket as he walks through the back streets to his house at the edge of town. It was a fairly nice one, painted a boring white and light-blocking curtains hanging in all the windows, the lawn a bit overgrown now thanks to the frequent rain. He chose it for a reason after researching Davenport, the house built right over a forgotten graveyard. The bodies beneath it gave off a dark aura that only the dead were capable of and he reveled in it, wondering if his father would exude a similar feeling. His mother hadn’t, she’d been warm even as she taught him the best way to disembowel Hunters.

Adam kicks the front door shut and runs up the stairs with a smile, heading into the first room at the top of the steps. Most of the rooms were empty as he didn’t own more than what could fit in a suitcase, but this one held a wooden altar and two coffins. He runs his fingers over the polished mahogany of his father’s coffin, impatient to finally see him in person instead of just in an old portrait that had degraded fifty years ago.

His father’s coffin had been purchased from a wood carver in Louisiana, a small mural carved into the bottom that showed his father’s final battle with the famous Van Helsing. Inside is made up of plush blue velvet with a single white pillow for his father's head to rest on while he sleeps. As it is, there's only a pile of old bones resting on the velvet, too fragile to move often.

Adam would have to bring the women back here in order to have his father back. Once the sacrifice was finished he would give his father the witch as a gift, knowing the other vampire would be starving after his years spent in Purgatory. Adam nods a little before climbing into his own coffin and shutting its lid. Unlike his father's, this one was much simpler and made of wood that was bleached white under the sun, the inside equipped with a small pouch sewn into the green velvet to hold his alarm clock.

Dracula would rise again and soon the world would be plunged into darkness and fear once more.


	5. Persuasion

Lissy had hoped that she would be able to get to her car without any more parents running up to her, but she barely got out the door of the school when a man comes running up to her. He’s attractive, maybe in his late twenties with brown hair that stops at his shoulders, a fit build, and a sort of goatee. He’s definitely never had a kid in the preschool class because she would’ve remembered a dad that wasn’t balding.

"Hi, I'm new to town and I was told to come up here to enroll my son," he says with a shy smile. "Are... Can I do that here?"

“What grade is he,” Lissy asks, digging the keys to the classroom back out of her purse.

“Ah, he’ll be in preschool this year.” She gives him another smile, gesturing for him to follow her into the building. “I didn’t think teachers dressed like that.” It was said in a joking tone and Lissy gives him a laugh. She’d undone the top button of her shirt to reveal a small bit of cleavage after the meetings were done.

"Technically, I'm a teacher's assistant until next year."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and this is just the outfit I wear to the liquor store so I get a discount." It's his turn to laugh this time, the sound pleasant and sending shivers down Lissy’s spine. She pushes the classroom door open and walks over to the desk, digging around in the center drawer for the papers he’ll need to fill out in order to enroll his kid. “So, what’s your son like?”

“He’s kind of stoic for his age and likes to keep to himself.” Lissy nods as she continues her search for the leftover packets. “He’s got my hair and eyes, but his mother’s personality. His name’s Parker.”

“That’s a cute name.”

"Thanks, his mom picked it out. What about you, teacher’s assistant? What's your name?"

"Lissy Collier, what about you?" She can hear him walking around the classroom and for the first time in months she doesn’t have the feeling of being watched for a brief moment. She straightens up slowly, setting the packet on the desk and looking around for the man.

“I’m Adam Dragulia.” Lissy jumps as his voice comes from directly behind her, trying to turn only to have him grab ahold of the back of her neck and slam her head down against the desk with enough force to make her see stars. “Maybe the Hunters in your house told you about me.” She lets out a feeble groan of pain, not able to manage much more than that when he wrenches her arms behind her back and uses zip-ties to keep her wrists bound. “What are you, Elisabetta? Are you the witch or the one with my father’s blood?” Lissy can feel his nose against her throat, wincing when she feels his sharp fangs scratch against the sensitive skin. “Mm, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Adam straightens and pulls her up with him, holding her upper arm tightly in one of his hands as he walks her over to one of the windows near the back of the room. Lissy’s stomach lurches at the movement, but she grits her teeth as she fights to stay upright and not collapse as the room around her sways.

“They’ll find you,” she states confidently, knowing there’s no point in struggling against someone so much stronger than her. Even if she wanted to, she was too unsteady to make it out of the room by herself. "And then they're going to kill you just like Van Helsing killed your daddy."

"I hope they find me, sweetheart." He unlatches the window and swings it open before tossing her out and hopping down to stand beside her, hauling Lissy back up. "When they do, I'll kill the male Hunter and the woman, if she's the witch, will be a meal for my father." He chuckles as he forces Lissy to walk, the clouds covering the sun and plunging the playground into shadows, allowing Adam to walk in the open without fear of the light. "Why not make it easy on yourself and tell me if you're the useless one?"

"Because the only way I'm spilling my deepest darkest secrets to an insane vampire is if I'm shit-faced drunk." Adam makes an amused sound, looking down at her with a hint of a smile. His eyes are really dark, his pupils dilated in his excitement and serving to make his eyes seem darker than they were earlier. "Don't even think about it, buckaroo, ain't gonna happen."

"You seem so sure that I plan on getting you drunk when there's a simple test I can use." They come to a stop under the shade of a huge tree near the end of the playground, Adam’s grip tightening even more. “You see, witches react differently to a little friendly…. _Persuasion_.” He cups her chin gently with his free hand, staring down at her intently. She can feel him prodding around in her mind, the wall she usually had built up beginning to crumble away until the only thing left is the voice in her head. _Let go, Lissy. Just close your eyes and go to sleep_. She tries to fight her body’s response to the command, but it’s not long until she’s fast asleep.

**ADAM**

It's relatively easy for Adam to scoop up the unconscious woman in his arms, though a human may have staggered slightly under her weight. He's still unsure about what she is; she gave in to his hypnosis easy for a witch, but not quick enough for a human. No matter, he would find out once in the safety of his house, then he'd figure out whether or not he needed to steal away with the attractive blonde woman that lived next door to Elisabetta.

Magic clung to her as well but he knew there was a high chance of Katelyn sharing his father's blood. The way she moved and her looks alone practically screamed supernatural DNA while the woman in his arms radiated innocence despite the way she really acts. It's strange and confusing to the vampire's senses, the urge to protect the woman despite the fact that he plans on killing her without remorse.

"What are you," he asks softly, staring down at her peaceful face as he cuts through his neighbor's backyard and into his own. The woman doesn't respond, her body limp in his arms and her breathing steady. She was fighting him still, an unconscious effort that he could feel in his own mind.

His lips quirk up in a smirk as he lays her down on the little alter he'd constructed over the last few weeks, made up of slabs of oak and ash wood with detailing around the edges of it. Lissy fit nearly perfectly on it once he cut through the zip-ties and crossed her arms over her chest like one would do to a corpse. She's nearly the same pallor as a corpse, he muses, if not for the slight movement of her chest she could easily be mistaken for dead.

Adam closes his eyes, resting one of his brown hands on the woman's head, concentrating to see how her thoughts flow through that strange mind of hers. The first thing he sees as he begins to sift through the thoughts and memories is a strange scene of three dancing chipmunks, then a dark gritty memory of the night her father stumbled in drunk and beat her and her sister senseless—that particular memory had anger coursing through Adam's veins like molten lava, though he put it down to the magic inside of her. He focused on her sister’s face, recognizing her as the untrained Hunter he’d killed in an alley behind a pub in Brașov.

After a while, he'd come to realize that, before a particularly nasty memory, he would find the cheery picture of the chipmunks. A defense mechanism? Something to cheer her up after a bad situation? He doesn't know, but he's willing to bet that if he woke her up right now and claimed that he'd killed Katelyn, then she'd think back to the chipmunk named Theodore to keep control on her unstable emotions.

He lets out a shaky breath, taking his hand back and staring down at the pitiful human being. They're so delicate, like a glass figurine sitting precariously on a shelf just waiting for something big to knock it down and break it. As a vampire, Adam always felt the urge to break weaker things, to make them submit to him and be happy about it, but he also had a feeling that this woman wouldn't let this happen to her.

She's been wrapped up around supernatural things since before she knew what was going on, though the memories had been carefully packed away in her subconscious—memories of the little ghost named Abby that lived in her closet, the first real victim of Lissy's father and Lissy's protector while in that house, memories of the werewolf family that lived down the street from her in California, memories of Adam himself as he watched her run around a playground in Texas when he first caught on to her scent.

Even from the beginning, he was drawn to this pitiful little thing and she ended up leading him to what he needed in order to resurrect his father. Perhaps that's why he followed her everywhere, why he never allowed her father to hide her from him for long. Somehow, even all those years ago, Adam knew that Elisabetta Collier would play a major part of giving him what he wanted most in this world.

Now all he needs is Katelyn Grant and his father will roam this world once more with Adam at his side.


	6. Strong Little Halfling

Nothing seemed out of place at first as Lissy slowly comes back into consciousness, the dryness in her mouth and the hard thing beneath her leading to her believing that she’d gotten drunk and passed out on her kitchen table again until she realizes that her head isn’t pounding and she can’t move her arms from their spot above her head.

"You wiggle a lot in your sleep," a vaguely familiar voice comments," I had to strap you down to keep you from rolling off the altar."

“Thanks,” she mumbles, still a little sleepy and not yet registering how wrong those words were. “You’re a good guy for a giant dog.” After a second, Lissy’s eyes open wide and her head snaps to the side to see who was talking to her because she highly doubts Elijah cared if she rolled off anything and she damn well knew she didn’t have an altar in her house. The person turns out to be Adam, standing nearby and looking at Lissy as though she’s a four-course meal. _Oh, this is so not good_. "Are you going to kill me?" He shrugs a little with a smile, using a rather large knife to clean the dirt out from under his fingernails.

"I'm not sure yet, Lissy. Depends on which bloodline you share. Are you the witch or vampire?"

"How about C: none of the above?" He shakes his head with that amused smile still in place, pointing the knife at Lissy in a manner that suggests he knows how to use it. "Can we put the deadly weapons down now? I mean, really, a bit unprofessional."

"You're pretty calm for a woman that might be murdered soon. What's your secret?"

"A healthy dose of cartoons every Saturday morning," she states dryly, pulling against the leather restraints that keep her wrists in place. “You’re a real twisted guy, aren’t you? Kidnapping innocent teachers for your weird rituals and then looking shocked when the hostage is sarcastic." His smile widens as he slams the pointed end of his knife down into the wood a few inches from her face, succeeding in getting a terrified scream from her.

"That's it, sweetheart," he laughs, throwing his arms out wide. "Scream all you want because this place is completely soundproofed! Isn't that great?"

“Oh yeah, real convenient.” Adam grabs a handful of her hair, forcing her to arch her back in order to keep him from breaking her neck. “So, you gonna tell me your master plan like the normal bad guy or do you plan on staying like this and pulling my hair? I gotta tell you though, I'm not kinky enough to like being tied down." Adam looks positively giddy, pulling the knife out of the wooden altar and holding it against Lissy’s cheek, careful not to draw blood yet. "Oh, you're into that sadistic shit, huh?"

"Just tell me what you are and I promise to make your death quick." His breath washes over he and I she scrunches up her nose at the smell of decay.

"Why don't you go swallow a tic-tac first?" Obviously not pleased with Lissy telling him his breath stinks, Adam makes a shallow cut on her cheek, his breath speeding up as a drop of crimson rolls across her face and sinks into the wood beneath her. "Was that supposed to hurt or is it foreplay?" Another, deeper, cut to her shoulder. "Come on, you can do better than that." It actually hurts like a bitch, and he can tell that by the way she grits her teeth and her breathing becomes shallow, but if she gives up her secret, he'll just kill her and go after Katie.

"I guess we get to do this the fun way."

* * *

 

"Strong little halfling, aren't you?" Lissy doesn’t answer him, closing her eyes for a small break and she struggles to keep her tears from falling. They would only make the cuts on her face hurt worse than they already do and she really doesn’t need that right now. Adam lets go of her hair and she drops back to the altar, wincing at the impact with the unforgiving wood. She was covered in cuts that were shallow on and around her face, but deep along her shoulders and belly. "I wish I could tell by your blood, but the human in you masks any other taste."

"So if I said 'bite me' you'd take that in the literal sense?"

"You're quirky, I like that. Maybe I'll keep you around to cheer me up when I'm sad."

"Trust me when I say that I'll put a stake through your heart the first chance I get." He shrugs with a soft laugh, tossing the knife aside and walking over to one of the two coffins that are set against the far wall. “I’ve always thought you guys were extinct, no more pureblood vampires alive that we have to worry about. My gramps, another half-blood, he killed some of the last of your kind."

“Too bad Hunters are dwindling these days, they were always fun to toy with.” He gets a cruel gleam in his eyes, like he was about to deliver a killing blow. “The last one I found was this little red-headed woman and she was shaking so hard that she couldn’t even hold the stake. It was adorable, but I drained her anyway. Can't keep Hunters alive, they only train harder and try to kill me at a later time."

Red-hot rage fills Lissy as she tries to lunge at him, the restraints keeping her from raking her nails down his face. She wanted— _needed_ —to kill him as soon as possible for causing the biggest blow to her family. It was _his_ fault that her older sister was dead, _his_ fault that her father’s grief drove him to suicide, and she would tear his throat out with her teeth as soon as she got free.

“Bastard,” she snarls, jerking and wriggling on the altar in an attempt to get free.

"What's wrong, Lissy? Did that hit a nerve?” In the blink of an eye, Adam's standing over her again and delivering a hard slap that has her head snapping to the side. The contact made her cry out again, her cheek throbbing and stinging from a new cut that had opened up under the ring he wore on his index finger.

“You’d better pray the Hunters get you before I do because you’re gonna die just like your daddy did! It was a werewolf bite that did him in, wasn't it? I bet he cried like a baby before he died and I bet you will, too." That seemed to spark something because he suddenly has Lissy’s neck in a tight grip, his face inches from hers.

"Do not presume to think you know my father."

"He was a little bitch just like you." Adam's brown eyes change to a bright blue color, and Lissy realizes where she’s seen them before. _He was worming around inside my head for months as he tried to find out what the hell I am._

"I could kill you so easily, just snap your neck and be done with it."

"Lay another hand on her and I'll make you die slow," a familiar voice growls from the doorway of the room. Adam directs his glare at Katie and Elijah, using his nails to cut through the leather straps binding Lissy to the altar before dragging her against his chest with his hand still grasping her throat.

"Trust me," Elijah says with a dark smile," you don't want to upset my cousin." Elijah's eyes looked like molten gold, the werewolf blood running through his veins beginning to grow stronger and allowing his nails to turn into black claws. "I mean, she's protective of family members and friends, but that's her girlfriend you're threatening, buckaroo." Katie pales at her cousin's words, gripping the silver stake in her hand tighter.

"I told you, we're just friends."

"Yeah, and I'm completely human."

"Can you guys argue about that a little later," Lissy asks. “Like after I ship this bastard's head to Timbuktu?"

"Right, sorry." _Jesus, I'm being rescued by two people that decide to argue during a battle. What the hell did I get myself into?_ "Alright, pal, put Lissy down and fight me or are you a coward?" Elijah holds his arms out, daring the vampire to make a move.

"Do you really think a worthless halfling like you could even do any damage to me," Adam taunts, tossing Lissy to the side. She grunts when she hits the wall, the brute strength Adam has sending her through the weak sheetrock and old wood, and into the next room.

"I don't need any help, go and rescue your crush!" And then Katie is leaning over her, gingerly turning her onto her back and looking her over. "No cheap shots, you prick! That is a cheap shot- Oh, you bastard!"

"Don't pay attention to them," Katie instructs as she sets the stake aside. "Eli has faced purebloods like that prick before and he'll keep this one occupied until I get you somewhere safe." Lissy shakes her head, unable to talk and use her limited magic at the same time. Slowly and painfully, she feels her injuries beginning to heal; her broken arm no longer dented, the shallow cuts stitched back together, and her dislocated shoulder popped back in place. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

“No,” Lissy manages, pushing aside Katie’s hand and getting up by herself. “I promised that I’d kill him myself if I got the chance.” The room spins around her dangerously, her head going fuzzy for a moment as though she’d just had morphine shot right into her system.

"You can barely stand up, let alone fight."

"I'd be able to stand up easier if the room would stop fucking spinning!" Lissy holds out a hand, the silver stake on the ground flying off the ground and easily gripped even if her hands were shaking almost violently. "I'm not leaving this yet, Katie. I can't when this is personal." Katie stands quickly and wraps her arms around Lissy when the brunette attempts to climb back through the hole in the wall. “No! I have to kill him!” Lissy struggles hard against Katie, but the other woman is far stronger after all the training Hunters are put through.

"Why do you think you have to kill him? It'd be a suicide mission and I'm not letting you get murdered by vampire!"

"He killed my sister!" Lissy can feel the tears stinging her eyes and she lets them fall as she meets her best friend’s gaze. "He admitted it earlier, told me that she hadn't been ready when she tried to kill him, but she hadn't even been searching for him! I'm the only one in my family left, I have to be the one that delivers the killing blow."

"Well, then let's kick his undead ass." When the pair make it back into the room, Eli is lying on the floor near the coffins, semi-conscious and still throwing out taunts while Adam is leaning against the wall with four long claw-marks running across his chest. The blood that poured from the wounds was jet black, soaking into his shirt and dripping down onto the floor.

"Is that the best you can do," Eli slurs, spitting crimson blood from his mouth and trying to sit up until Katie places a hand on his shoulder. "I can do this all day!"

"Shut it, Eli," Katie instructs," you're in worse shape than Lissy is." Lissy doesn’t look down at the cousins, her eyes focused on the vampire standing a few feet away. Adam looks like he went three rounds with a twister and came out on the losing end; large chunks of his hair are missing in places, one of his eyes has been gouged out while the left one was swelling shut, and a few of his sharp teeth had been knocked out. "Go get 'em, tiger." She grins at Katie's encouragement, holding the stake tighter as she charges the vampire. Adam raises his hand, grabbing the front of her tee and slamming her against the wall, plaster dust raining down on them.

“You’re as pathetic as your sister was,” he growls, but no longer sounded as sure as he had a minute ago. With a stubborn glare, she lets the stake drop to the ground and lunges forward, singing her teeth in the thick skin of his neck until she could taste the rotten, dead blood filling her mouth. He lets out a howl, backing away and clutching at his throat in an attempt to stem the flow of blood as Lissy takes a threatening step towards his, spitting the blood and flesh out at his feet. He was choking on it now, the black fluid covering his hands and coming out of his mouth as his body began to disintegrate until only charred bones remained.

"I thought you were half witch." Lissy uses the hem of her shirt to wipe the blood off her mouth, spitting again and making a face at the nasty taste left behind.

"I am," she answers, dropping to the floor beside Eli and Katie," my mother was a witch and my grandfather was a werewolf." Lissy shrugs a little, leaning back against one of the coffins. "Can we go get that whisky now? I really need a drink."

* * *

 

“Are you sure you’re ready to head out,” Lissy asks, handing Elijah another of the shopping bags. Two weeks and eleven shopping trips later, Eli was finally heading back to Italy to inform his superiors of what had happened. She’ll have to join him in a few weeks to register as a halfling, but she plans on relaxing at home until then. “I mean, you could always send those guys an email.”

"We don't have WiFi there," he explains, earning a horrified look from her. When she gets there, she’ll have to stay and train to fill the space her sister left behind and that means at least two years without the internet. Well, she didn’t _have_ to, but she wanted to finish what Leora had wanted to do. "Relax, you'll be kept so busy that you won't even think about it until you get back home and realize you need to binge watch Netflix to catch up on all your shows." He grins at Lissy, ruffling her hair in a way he seemed fond of since learning of her bloodlines. Werewolves have to stick together and he'll be one of her teachers when she comes to the Vatican to train.

Katie joins them with a smile lighting up her face, handing Eli a plate covered in saran wrap and getting up on her tiptoes to give his cheek a peck. "I think that's everything," she sighs, wrapping an arm around Lissy’s waist. "And if it isn't, then we'll bring whatever you forgot with us when we head back." Eli nods, opening the door of his truck and getting inside, wincing a little when the fresh stitches in his side tighten. "Careful, I'm not gonna stitch you up again so soon after doing it the first time."

"Love you too, cousin." He gives her a wry smile, shutting his door and rolling the window down so he can still talk to the women. "Hey, Collier." Lissy looks up from her sneakers to meet Eli's stare. "Take care of her, alright?"

"No problem, Scooby-Doo." He scowls at the nickname, but Lissy can tell that he's grown used to her little remarks over the time he's spent in her house. "You better hit the road before it gets too dark." The expression he gets on his face has her nervous, stepping slightly behind Katie in case he tries to ruffle her hair again. Instead of doing what she thought he would, he starts up his truck and puts it into reverse, meeting her eyes for a moment.

"Don't howl at the moon too loudly tonight, Collier. We wouldn't want animal control called on you." And then he was backing out as fast as possible, leaving her standing behind Katie with an impressed smile.

"Your cousin's an asshole."

"I know," Katie nods. She turns to face her girlfriend, pulling slightly on Lissy’s hips until there's barely any space left between them. "But he's a pretty good guard dog most of the time."

"True," Lissy murmurs against her lips before she pulls the blonde closer, sealing any gaps that may have existed before and kissing Katie like her life depended on it. After a moment, Katie pulls back and grabs her hand, tugging on it until Lissy was running after her into the house again where Kirk and Loki were curled up together in a chair.

"We won't be able to spend much time together while you're training," she explains with a mischievous grin as she walks backwards, keeping her eyes on Lissy. "So we should spend as much time together as possible before we have to leave." Lissy’s grin matches hers as she kicks the bedroom door closed behind them. "Come along, little witch, let me corrupt you."


	7. Two Years Later

[Rossi](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6d/a2/06/6da20675adfdf72fe82618e567ff4155.jpg) [Ducard](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTI0ODA2MjM2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDg5NDIz._V1_UX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg)

"You're dead."

"No, I'm not," Eli hisses as the pair crawl through the ventilation shaft.

"No, you're dead and you're dragging me along with you into the fiery depths of Hell."

"Don't be such a drama queen." Lissy scoffs, having to wiggle a little when she gets stuck in one of the turns. "Hurry up, Lissy!"

"I'm trying, but I'm not anywhere near as skinny as you are!" Eli snorts and keeps crawling forward through the vent while Lissy starts lagging behind, adjusting her hearing aid so she could hear better before just taking it out and stuffing it in her pocket. She may not be able to hear, but if something’s moving through the vents that isn’t her or Elijah, then she doesn’t _want_ to hear it. She’s not even sure how Elijah had talked her into this, but they somehow stole the Cardinal’s favorite bible and Eli wanted to sell it on eBay so he could pay for Katie’s birthday present. “Sign language,” Lissy warns, knowing Eli could hear her thanks to his particularly strong werewolf genes.

_This is so stupid, I could be eating right now, but wolf boy made me his partner in crime!_

Eli holds up his fist and Lissy comes to an immediate stop, her palms growing sweaty against the metal beneath her. He motions to his ear, tugging slightly until he hears her shifting to slide her hearing aid back in place.

“Listen.” She does just that, holding her breath and peering through the slats in the shaft to see where in the Vatican they were. Below them was office space mostly, a place where people could make phone calls to loved ones or paperwork was filed away after missions. Only three people were in there right now, two of them busily scribbling away while the third had a pencil trapped between her upper lip and her nose. She was blonde and reminded Lissy of Tinkerbelle where her curvaceous form was concerned. Katie had returned early. “Why isn’t she battling a Goblin in Detroit?”

"How should I know?"

"You're her girlfriend!"

"You're her cousin!"

"You're both going to get caught if you whisper so loudly," Katie calls, gazing up at them with a grin, spinning the pencil around her fingers like she does with her throwing knives in practice. "I'm back early because I dispatched the little beast."

"Great job, babe." Katie gives a laugh before focusing back on the paper, waving the companion on with her free hand. "Move it, Spot, I wanna catch that Walking Dead marathon before the new episode comes on." Elijah makes a noise, but starts moving anyway after Lissy delivers a light swat to his jean-clad leg. He was always dressed in a pair of jeans, even when it was a hundred degrees outside, and he did it because the style he wore complimented his ass.  _At least he has an ass, mine is tiny_.

Lissy shakes her head a little as she follows behind the Hunter, trying not to focus too long on the little scratching sounds further behind her that mice were making as the roamed through the hidden building. Slowly, the vent began to tilt downward as they get closer to the floor.

"We're here," Eli whispers, stopping in front of a vent large enough for them to climb through. He pops the cover open and crawls through first, scooting off to the side so Lissy could get through, too. She didn’t expect anyone to be in the old storage room, but she finds herself looking down at a pair of shiny black shoes when she manages to get out. She looks up at the new person, the stern face of Mark Rossi staring back at her. He was the type of guy that reveled in getting people in trouble, though his official job was to recruit new Hunters. He always reminded Lissy of a scarecrow, tall and lanky with straw-colored hair that was always slicked back, his eyes were a steely gray color, and his nose was long yet thin. In short, the guy was a regular bastard.

"Might I ask what the two of you are up to this time," he asks, sneering down at Elijah and Lissy.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, I was just teaching her some new stealth techniques, Rossi." Elijah couldn't stand Rossi, though that feeling was definitely mutual. The two of them had trained together for field work, but Rossi had quickly proved himself a sniveling rat that would only take care of himself, so he'd been assigned to recruiting duty and served as a spy for the Cardinal.

"Elisabetta, would you like to join Van Helsing in his lie?"

"It's not a lie, Rossi," Lissy grumbles, standing up with Eli so she doesn’t feel too much like a Hobbit compared to the men. Rossi towered over her anyway, but at least she wasn’t looking up his nose at this angle. “Why are you snooping around this time? Trying to find a lost tourist to suck dry?”

"A shame you've been corrupted, Collier, I might have been able to use you as a spy."

"I'd rather not do your bidding." Rossi gives a sinister smile, one he was well known for around the Vatican, and turns on his heel, walking over to the door of the room.

"The Cardinal wants to have a word with the two of you." Eli and Lissy share a look before following after Ferret Face, dragging their feet as they walk through the twisting halls towards the Cardinal’s office just past the weapons vault. It was a large room, the only furnishings being the massive oak desk set in the middle of the room and three chairs. Cardinal Ducard was seated in the chair behind his desk, his green eyes appearing owlish behind the lenses of his reading glasses. Antony Ducard was pleasantly plump and normally had a warm smile on his face, but today he was giving them the same look he normally reserves for physical activity: early exhaustion. "I found them, Cardinal."

"I can see that, Mark," Ducard nods," please go back to your duties." With a curt nod, Rossi leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. Lissy looks down at her ankle boots, unable to lie to Ducard since he’s more like a father to her than her real father. He’s just one of those people you open up to and feel safe around; like a mixture of McGonnagal and Winnie the Pooh without the honey obsession. "Sit down you two." Elijah and Lissy do as they were told without hesitation, Elijah sitting up straight while Lissy slouched a little in her seat. "Can I have my bible back?"

"What makes you think we took it," Elijah asks, making his blue eyes go wide to feign innocence. Ducard just raises a brow at Eli's face, holding out one of his hands and wiggling his fingers in a  _gimme_  motion. Elijah shrugs, pulling the bible out of his bag and handing it over before leaning back in his chair at the same time Ducard does. "Seriously though, how'd you know we had it?"

"Because, you're smart enough to break into my office using the vents to avoid the cameras and Lissy would help out if it meant avoiding her mythology classes." Ducard opens the front cover and writes inside it, blowing on the writing to make the ink dry faster before sliding it across the desk for Eli to take. "That should make it sell for more if that's what you intended to do with it." Eli opens the book and holds it so that Lissy can read what the Cardinal had written down.

"You know how to forge the Pope's handwriting," she asks in astonishment.

"Who do you think taught Elijah how to do forgeries? It's a hobby of mine." He gives a small smile, fingers steepled as he looks from Lissy to Elijah and back again. "Why did you feel the need to sell my favorite bible?"

"Katie's birthday present costs more than what we make in a month." Ducard rises slowly and tiptoes towards the door, gesturing for them to keep up the conversation.

"We were going to get her this remote-controlled skunk and a bad smelling perfume for it to spray on Rossi," Eli lies as he catches on to the plan, his sharp incisors glinting as he grins. "She likes him about as much as anyone here does." There's a faint noise of indignation on the other side of the door before the muffled noise of someone getting kicked.

"I guess you could say we were... 'Munks on a mission." There was another noise this time, the sound of an irritated groan. With a grin of his own, Ducard opens the door and Rossi falls forward with Katie landing on his back, both letting out twin  _oof_ 's from the sudden drop and impact. "I knew an Alvin and the Chipmunks reference would do her in." Eli and Lissy share a high five, smiling down at the pair with smug satisfaction.

"And I knew you wouldn't be able to resist making a reference," Ducard states, shutting his office door again as Katie and Rossi untangle themselves. "What excuse would you two like to give for lurking outside my door?"

"Lost contacts," Katie offers weakly.

"I needed to tie my shoe," Rossi says at the same time, making Ducard shake his head a little in amusement. Rossi clears his throat, straightening out his freshly laundered suit jacket and raising his head the way stuck up people do when they want to look down their noses at people. In all honesty, it made Rossi look like he was constipated, but Lissy’s not going to point it out to him. "It was all Katelyn's idea, Cardinal."

"Why don't you shove—” Ducard quickly covers Katie's mouth before she could finish her sentence.

"Rossi, I'm serious when I ask you to return to your duties." Rossi's hands clench into fists, but he leaves for real this time and Ducard only moves away from Katie after sending the blonde a stern look. "Find a seat, Katie." She sits on the arms of Lissy’s and Eli's chairs, her legs crossed at the ankles to avoid flashing the Cardinal. She was dressed as nicely as usual in a white spaghetti strap tucked into a peach skirt, black thigh highs, and a pair of black heels. "I assume you all remember Adam?"

"He's the vampire we took out two years ago." Ducard suddenly looked tired again, resting his chin on his palm. "I saw to it that his body was completely destroyed."

"And Dracula's?"

"Pretty sure he was dead before we got electricity, so…"

"We assumed he was dead, and what does assuming do, Lissy?"

"Makes an ass outta you and me," she answers automatically, still confused about where the conversation was heading. "But since Katie's right, I don't see why that saying applies."

"There have been kidnappings in Davenport, one young person every two months. We all know that means a vampire is feeding only when it has to since kidnappings so close together in small towns is unusual."

"There's also a protection boundary set up around Davenport to keep the nasty stuff out. I mean, it'd have to be a pureblood to get past that." Ducard nods his agreement, looking at the three of them without saying anything. "Adam was the last pureblooded vampire." Ducard nods again, still appearing like he was waiting on them to piece everything together when there was no puzzle to solve. "Please tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"The Count's back and he's in your hometown, Lissy."


End file.
